Our
Chief Laundry and Morale Officer sent along 2 separate Collegian articles highlighting some of the same names as yesterday's post celebrating
Curt Stone's contributions to our heritage.
This time, additional Olympic achievements were introduced.
Herm Goffberg is submitted as a 1948 Olympian in the 10,000M. Those who are in the know realize that Herm returned to PSU in his later years and became one of
Coach Groves' favorite people in the world, serving as a grad assistant.
When he passed away, Coach Groves was involved in making sure his remains were placed at a prominent place next to the track, (between the track and the runway where the women stretch before their workout).
Curtis Stone, Herman Goffberg, Horace Ashenfelter, Bill Ashenfelter and
Greg Fredericks, all former Penn State track and field stars and Olympic Games participants, met after Saturday's game for a tailgate celebration of Penn State tradition and pride.
Sporting a royal blue "Nittany Lions Track" windbreaker, Goffberg, a runner in the 1948 Olympics, is the oldest living Penn State Olympian. He lived in England for 35 years after the Olympics, but fittingly decided to retire in the same place where his athletic career excelled — State College.
Goffberg then took a position with the University as the Graduate Team Manager for the Track team. Looking back on the bad shoes, track conditions and outdoor weather conditions, Goffberg laughs when hearing his college runners call the past "the good old days."
"Good old days?" said Goffberg. "They were the bad old days!"
Horace Ashenfelter, winner of the 1952 Olympic gold medal in the steeplechase, shared similar memories of his Penn State track experiences. In his days at Penn State, runners practiced outside during the winter on the original outdoor track. After a heavy blizzard, the men were still expected to run.
"The coach said, 'first you've got to shovel the track, guys,' " Horace Ashenfelter said.
Despite the technology-based inconveniences of Penn State's early track years, the gentlemen expressed pride and contentment with their time spent at Penn State.
Bill Ashenfelter, distance runner in the 1952 Olympics and brother of Horace Ashenfelter, enjoyed his Penn State years.
"We've had a lot of fun here," Ashenfelter said.
Virginia Ashenfelter (senior-marketing/international business) is the great-niece of Horace Ashenfelter and also a current triathlon participant at Penn State.
"The family's built on endurance," Virginia Ashenfelter said. "They're also very humble."
Showing this typical humility, Horace Ashenfelter spoke of his own running talent.
"I was just a fair runner, better than average, I guess," he said.
Indeed this runner was better than average, elevating himself to cross-country All-American status in 1949, 1950 and 1951.
One of only two American distance runners to make the Olympics three consecutive times (1948, 1952 and 1956), Curtis Stone spoke of his experiences running against the Russians. Amidst the anxiety of the Cold War, Stone focused solely on winning a medal.
"They were tension-filled times," fellow-Olympian Greg Fredericks said. "They never thought he would place, and he did."
Stone placed sixth in the 1948 Olympic 5,000-meter race, due to a weather problem. He would have been a medal contender if the rain had held off for five minutes, he said.
"The race was run in a terrible rainstorm," Stone said. "The cloud burst as we began."
Goffberg expressed sympathy for Stone's situation.
"The runner in front of him kicked mud up on his glasses, and he couldn't see," Goffberg said.
Greg Fredericks, representing a younger generation of Penn State runners, made the Olympic team in 1980 only to find out that he would not be able to run because of former president Jimmy Carter's Olympic boycott.
"It was an event in your life. Like Joe Paterno says, 'there are certain things you just can't control, and you can't worry about them.' "
Still, Fredericks remains a dominant figure in Penn State track and field, holding the record for the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter race at the university.
The Olympians present at the tailgate expressed an optimistic opinion for the future of Penn State track and Olympic hopefuls.
"Penn State is a major school," said Horace Ashenfelter. "They should do well."
